Weak Kneed
by hiddenmoments
Summary: David's a black bear until he smiles, but there's none of that here, and Liz is the predator at the top of the food chain. Wild hair and wilder eyes make Nikki larger than life and even with a bloodstained bandage around his arm, Colby looks like a linebacker. You didn't think those runners they took down were going to escape unscathed, did you? Messy aftermath of One Mistake.
1. Chapter 1

_**Still not mine.**_

**Part I: David**

_i._

"Sinclair, we have other agents that can do this. Get your people home and rest, you aren't going to do them any good by burning out."

"All due respect, sir, they know something and I can't think of any agents as motivated to make them talk as we are."

"Point taken. They've stewed long enough to be released from hospital and they're in the holding rooms. The nurses at Cedars may have been a little… lax when cataloguing their injuries after they were informed of events leading to those busted knees. We have them by the balls on assault and attempted murder so don't hesitate to let them know we're their best shot. Remind me not to get on Betancourt's shit list, alright?"

"Will do."

"We're going to do everything we can to bring them home, Sinclair. That's a promise."

"Yes sir."

_ii._

"So we arrive expecting a nice, simple bust. Instead, we walk right into the middle of an ambush. Care to tell me what happened there?"

"Sucks to be you, don't it? See your guys disappear and have one too stupid to keep his head down."

"Sucks a little more to be you, although considering how pissed she is you got pretty lucky that my friend didn't miss high. She's been known to do that on occasion."

"That curly haired bitch is the one that got us?"

"If you're going to run your mouth I'd make it more useful, and do it quickly. We don't have much patience, you see, and we want our guys back. You're already ours for assault, attempted murder and aiding and abetting in the abduction of two federal agents. I imagine if we dig a little we'll find more. Just a feeling, you know? Probably won't ever see the outside of a cell again barring your trial and maybe a room where they'll stick a needle in your arm if worst comes to worst."

"Look. You ain't gonna get your guys back, I can tell you that. You're chasing ghosts, these guys are real careful."

"I think you really underestimate just how little we care about your well-being at this point in time. Forensics and eyewitness testimony put you smack in the middle of a crime that's gonna get a lot of people in a lot of trouble. Your only chance is to cooperate and hope like hell that everything turns out okay. Law enforcement is a tight business and you hurt one of us, you can bet your ass it'll be like you hurt all of us."

"I got no clue why they took your guys or what they did with them and that's the truth, man. Just as confused as you are."

"Being confused doesn't change the fact that you're an accessory to whatever happens now. We didn't get them, we got you and your buddies so everything lands on you."

"Are you gonna cut me a deal if I talk?"

"You aren't in much of a position to bargain but if you help us I'll see what I can do."

"Can't give you much, they just wanted hired guns and that's where we came in. Didn't have any contact with them myself until the day. We were there as security."

"Descriptions?"

"I only met the introducer, a guy called Mario. Italian or Greek, short, bald. Silver tooth. Creepy bastard if you ask me but they pay well."

_iii._

"Anything?"

"Sketch artist's in there with him now, we might get a lead but I'm not too hopeful. Hired muscle from what I can gather. Apparently he and the others were brought in by an introducer called Mario, they thought they were just running interference for a smuggling operation that they thought might have been compromised. Five thousand on agreement, another five on completion."

"Smuggling what?"

"Doesn't know specifics but he thinks it might be women, children, some foreigners. Purely speculation, there weren't any goods or people when they arrived. They weren't even properly in position by the time we arrived and everything went to hell."

"That doesn't make sense, from what you said they were all armed and ready for war. Not just the security guys. Why take Edgerton and Eppes if it was just people smuggling? They target people who won't be missed, and particular demographics to specific orders. FBI agents are neither."

"I don't know, sir, and I don't think he does either."

* * *

_**So the bunny bit me at work again yesterday and considering all the others are pretty much exclusively non-dialogue, a few thousand words of nothing but might help clear some things up. All four parts are done but I'll post them separately to keep the suspense building because I'm just fun like that!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II: Liz**

_i._

"Get anything?"

"Smugglers, we aren't sure of what although they think it might be people trafficking. Guys we got are hired muscle, intended to run interference because they were told security may have been compromised. Don and Ian weren't part of the plan, or at least not the plan they were informed of."

"There's no way grabbing them wasn't part of the plan. They had _chloroform _for fuck's sake."

"I know, but the guy I questioned didn't have a clue and started talking pretty readily when I explained just how much trouble they could be in."

"I'm going to go after that big one. They have to know something that can help us out here."

"I'll be in the observation room, Colby and Nikki will hit the other one. Make sure his cuffs are secure, alright?"

"I hope they aren't. All he has to do is give me a reason and I'll make him sing like a canary."

_ii._

"Is that what you been hiding under all that Kevlar? Damn, girl, I ain't minding these cuffs so much now."

"Oh, give me a reason, just one good reason. Nikki wanted to bring you down but you're not going anywhere now and I have all the time in the world."

"Hah, calm down, baby. I can appreciate a pretty lady, just sayin'."

"We _own_your ass already and if you don't start talking I'm going to personally make sure you never see the outside of a cell again."

"You can do whatever you like with my ass, I don't mind."

"You have no idea, do you? You're an accessory to whatever happens to the agents your buddies grabbed. We've got you on attempted murder, assault and if you don't talk, obstruction of an investigation and obstruction of justice."

"Hey now, I ain't got nothing to do with whatever happened there. Our job was to run security and then get the hell outta there. Our plan got crapped on just like yours."

"That turned out real well for you, didn't it? Doesn't sound like your plan even made it far enough to be called a plan."

"Look, I get you guys are tight and all that. I'd be pissed if someone grabbed one of my boys too but whatever happened out there wasn't how we were told things were gonna go down."

"Well then, tell me how things were supposed to go down and who these guys were and you might not wish you'd never been born."

_iii._

"Same story as yours. He might look like he's in charge but he broke down pretty quickly. Another hit on the people trafficking idea but no idea why they broke with the plan and grabbed Don and Ian. Apparently the operation was just supposed to be about getting some narcotics from point A to point B but they were worried more about rival gangs and opportunists than us turning up which is why they had so much firepower."

"Okay, so that explains what they were told. Any hits on who was behind it all?"

"Seems to be European. Guy started rambling about the mafia when I said that maybe we'd just turn them loose, put word on the street that they'd turned snitch and wait for the guys to come to us."

"Mafia? Bit out of character for them."

"I doubt it's the mafia. A gang of some sort but I think these guys took a job for the paycheque and got played just like we did. We'll be lucky to get a hit off whatever the sketch artists get and there are no identifying characteristics of the leaders at all. Rap sheets for the ones down in the morgue are generic, we have agents running down commonalities now."

"Would go faster with Charlie, wouldn't it? I'll get a couple of them to look through the people trafficking cases we have and see if they can come up with anything."

"Yeah but the last thing we're doing is dragging him into this. I'm going to get Colby out of there, looks like he's busted his stitches. We'll be in the war room, okay?"

"Okay. Liz?"

"Yeah?"

"We're going to find them or die trying, okay?"

"You read my mind, Sinclair."

* * *

_**I love Liz, I really do. She's like a jungle cat and I don't think they did nearly enough to make her as dangerous as she deserves to be in the show.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Part III: Nikki**

_i._

"David says we should focus on getting a name, affiliation or a base location. The sketch artists have a few pictures but we need something solid."

"Any ideas on what happened?"

"The playbook the guys in the van were going off had some differences to the one the hired goons were playing by, apparently."

"I'm probably going to shoot him again."

"Think of the paperwork and the inevitable psych visit, should be enough to keep your finger off the trigger."

"Your arm doing okay?"

"Fine. Let's just crack this guy, alright? Little bad cop, bad cop and we'll make him talk."

"I ain't got no problem playing bad cop."

"Didn't think you would."

_ii._

"How's that knee doin'?"

"Hurting? That's a pity."

"Reckon he's mad at me, Granger?"

"I'd say so, Betancourt. Dunno why though, I was hoping you were gonna miss high myself."

"What are you two, some kind of walking comedy act?"

"Hadn't thought of that."

"Me either. Maybe we missed our calling."

"I dunno, I reckon I'm better with my trusty Glock here than a bunch of middle-aged people who need a laugh."

"What do you want? Gonna shoot me again? Didn't you learn your lesson when we got your arm?"

"Oh, funny guy. Might've missed your calling too, yeah? Comedians don't usually end up in holding cells with busted knees and a bunch of feds who want nothing more than to see a needle in your arm."

"Comedy doesn't pay nearly as well as gun-totin' though, Granger."

"Good point. Must have been a decent paycheque to persuade you to fire on the FBI, aid an abduction and go down facing assault and attempted murder. Not to mention leaving you as the fall guy for whatever happens to those agents your buddies grabbed."

"You don't need me to tell you that everything went to hell out there, you might be a bunch of feds but you were there as well."

"Went to hell is the worst understatement I've heard in a long time. Not how I'd describe what happened there either. More like a setup. Gotta wonder what kind of setup would make them turn and leave you as the fall guy though."

"Setup sounds about right. You hear the lady? We're certainly not in the mood to listen to you moan about getting played. We want to know who has our guys, why they took them and how you got the job running security for whatever was supposed to happen and we want to know now."

"I don't know nothin'. We took the job, set the place, rocked up and as soon as it was supposed to happen everything went to hell."

"What was supposed to happen?"

"Security for a meet and move. Whole lotta crystal from what I understand. Supply's been low, they were worried about local gangs hitting them. That's where we came in. Guys arrived, we set up and everything was just about to happen when your guys showed up and then it all went down."

"We got a report about a small meet and were first on scene. LAPD was about five minutes behind us. Doesn't seem like it could go so bad so sudden without plans, you know?"

"I know what it looks like, alright? That's all I know, looks like we all got played."

"You got played with a bullet in the leg. We got played and lost two guys. Two _friends_. You better start remembering details or you aren't going to like where the game goes from here, you hear me?"

"Dude, I get you're pissed but that's all I know. These guys are tight-knit, you don't get in-"

"Pissed? You think this is _pissed_?"

"Pissed is what I was when I busted that cap in your knee. This is a whole new level. Hey, Warner. Our buddy here thinks he gets that we're _pissed _about Don and Ian."

"That's awfully kind of him to understand. Granger, with me. You take a look at these, _buddy_. This is what damage our guys did, as outnumbered as they were. You'll probably recognise some faces under all the blood. You better start talking, yeah? Think about what they'll do if they meet you in an alley one night when we get them back."

"She's right, you know. That tall one they grabbed, Ian Edgerton? He's the bastard son of Clint Eastwood and Yoda. Bullet between your eyes from a mile away. You won't ever see him coming."

"You'd beg for him to take the shot once Don was through with you. Let's go crack some skulls, Granger."

"Looking a little white there. They aren't joking, Granger served in Afghanistan and that's exactly how the soldiers there remember Edgerton."

"Your friend busted his stitches. Guy's kinda got anger problems, doesn't he?"

"You better talk because Warner won't hold him longer than it takes for him to scare your other buddies into talking first and you wouldn't want them to give you up, would you?"

_iii._

"Anything useful?"

"Confirmation. Their stories line up for the most part and they all seem to agree that it's probably people trafficking. Doesn't sound like any of them realised they were getting played and we're running down some leads on European groups that have been active lately. Colby's arm okay?"

"Good, hopefully it turns something up. Yeah, Liz patched him up and they're in the war room. I was just waiting for you to join us."

"Alright, maybe we can come up with something between the four of us. It can't be chance that they grabbed Don and Ian, right?"

"I'm beginning to think it was anything but chance."

* * *

_**So it may have been intended to be solely Nikki but Colby wormed his way in because there weren't four in custody. Maybe a little bit because he's pretty. He and Liz are up next though, kicking butt and taking names.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Part IV: Colby**

_i._

"Any advice before we pound him?"

"We're after names, bases, affiliations. Sounds like we're dealing with some kind of mob deal but it isn't ringing any bells with the gang squads or narcotics, which is odd in itself even before you consider the fact that they've run off with Don and Ian. They're still running down commonalities between the bodies from the scene, six of them have rap sheets and we're waiting on IDs for the other two. How's the arm feeling?"

"How can there be a mob we don't know about that managed to take down two of us in an ambush like that? It was perfect, man."

"I know. Whoever hired these guys is a pro and either half ghost or really damn good at covering their tracks."

"No one's perfect, they had to have made a mistake somewhere."

"They will, we just have to find that mistake."

"Their biggest mistake was taking Don and Ian. We aren't going to stop, they have to know that."

"I know, Colb. We've just got to get what information we can and try and find them and bring them home."

"Yeah. We'll bring them home."

_ii._

"I didn't need rescuing, you know."

"Oh, I know. Hold still or I'm going to drag you back to the ER and let them deal with you, got it?"

"A couple split, so what? Three, max."

"Bleeding all over the interrogation room is very unprofessional, Granger. You're hardly going to inspire fear if you hit the table once and faint from blood loss two minutes later. I count seven busted, by the way."

"Do you really think they don't know? And I hit it twice, Warner."

"That it was a setup for them as well? Yeah. They got played too. These guys aren't the hardcore crews like ex-Special Ops, they're the ones who figure being hired guns makes them untouchable. They aren't the type to go into a clash with legitimate firepower knowing that they'll come out worst off. Easy money's their game."

"Then it was those guys in the van. The more I think about it the more I remember them trying to separate us. We haven't had any ransom demands and failing that, what could they want with two agents?"

"Revenge? Don and Ian have put a lot of people away."

"Then why not just shoot them outright? I mean, they had the opportunity."

"Think about it."

"You think…"

"I'm scared it's that, yeah."

_iii_.

"I want the case files of every single case involving someone with affiliations to European crime that was handled by Agent Eppes or Agent Edgerton. I don't care how little they had to do with the actual crime, if there's even a shred of possibility that it might be a motive, I want it."

"What timeframe are we talking, sir?"

"Christ, I hadn't thought that far."

"Just the ones since he's been in LA to start with. I'll make a call to the Albuquerque office and see if anyone remembers anything that might raise a flag. You should call that guy in Fugitive Recovery. Billy Cooper, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, they were partners. Maybe there's a grudge there we could follow up on?"

"Definitely possible. His number's probably on Don's desk. Can someone get me Albuquerque on the phone?"

"Over here, Agent Warner."

"I have Billy Cooper on line three for you, Agent Granger."

_iv._

"Guys?"

"You're looking kinda peaky there."

"Did you get anything more?"

"Nothing groundbreaking. We've got the people trafficking, the European mobsters and the narcotics link. We're trying to run down a concrete connection now. Colb, you're white as a ghost. What's wrong?"

* * *

_**So, in conclusion this was completely unplanned and exists kind of out of the story-arc so far. I had a thought Thursday morning, about just how much the team would want to break these guys and then figured I hadn't put them through enough yet and naturally, this is what happened as a result. I hope it helps put some more pieces together.**_


End file.
